Heart of Lubbock Neighborhood Association President Julie Hodges walks through Stumpy Hamilton Park on Tuesday as she discusses some of the association's proposed improvements to the park, including planting more trees to support the current shade of the older trees, above.

Henry Tracy, a Texas Tech student, walks his dog at Stumpy Hamilton Park on Tuesday morning. Heart of Lubbock Neighborhood Association President Julie Hodges says the park is used by all ages of neighborhood residents.

Heart of Lubbock Neighborhood Association President Julie Hodges says some of the improvements she hopes for Stumpy Hamilton Park would be to plant more trees to support the current shade of the older trees.

Julie Hodges believes improvements to Stumpy Hamilton Park could spark a renaissance period in her neighborhood.

So Hodges, president of the Heart of Lubbock Neighborhood Association, is working to bring walking paths, art installations, an amphitheater and other amenities to the park.

Hodges and her husband, Jason, went before the City Council on Sept. 10 with a proposed plan for these improvements.

The 7-acre park has not received much maintenance since 1974, said Hodges.

“Other than an irrigation system and some paint.”

During the Sept. 10 meeting, she found the park was in line to get new playground equipment next year.

She said she hopes to see improvements every year, including adding accessibility to the park for the disabled and removing safety hazards from slabs of concrete from an old LP&L transformer site.

But the additional amenities will not come cheap, so Hodges said her association is applying for nonprofit status to begin taking private donations to pay for them.

She said that will happen by the end of this year.

The effort to revitalize the park started two years ago, she said. Association meetings were swamped with residents’ concerns for the park after the city removed a softball field and the park was put up for a contest to get a dog park.

“We started learning how loved this park is,” said Hodges, who has lived in the neighborhood for about four years.

Since then, Hodges and her husband have begun polling residents of the neighborhood about what improvements they’d like to see at the park.

She said the residents placed art at the top of the list.

“We’re hoping the walkway would provide a place for future installments for sculpture,” she said.

Hodges said her husband is an architect and developed the plans for the park improvement.

Henry Tracy, a Tech student who lives in the neighborhood, said he uses the park to walk his dog and play football with friends.

He said the park was a factor when he decided to move to the neighborhood. He said a walking path would be a good addition to the park.

The Heart of Lubbock neighborhood sits in the center of the city bordered by 19th and 34th streets and avenues Q and University.

About 2,000 homes with values ranging from $20,000 to $500,000 make up the neighborhood, Hodges said.

Mayor Glen Robertson said the neighborhood is going through a natural stage of urban decay.

“We’re starting to see the effects of urban blight on the northern boundaries,” he said.

Hodges said improvements to the park could ignite a movement to revitalize the neighborhood and reduce crime.

“Our hope is that Stumpy Hamilton Park will be a kickoff in the neighborhood, improving outdoor spaces, improving infrastructure in the neighborhood to get people outside, to get people knowing their neighbors and their parks and reduce crime ultimately,” she said.

Since September of last year crime reports included 65 burglaries, 100 thefts and 29 vehicle thefts, according to Lubbock Police Department statistics.

Robertson said he looks forward to working with Hodges. He said revitalizing an area before it falls into decay is less costly than trying to resurrect one.

“It’s absolutely tremendous that we have citizens stand up and really want to improve the entire neighborhood.”

Robertson said a meeting with the Hodgeses and Councilman Victor Hernandez is planned for next week to see how much the project will cost and how the city can help fund it.

Hodges said she knows improvements will not happen quickly, but she is committed to putting in the effort.

“We’ve put in hundreds and hundreds of hours to this park and working toward putting together that plan and talking to city departments,” she said. “I can’t tell you how many meetings I’ve been to. But nothing’s going to get done if we’re not willing to put sweat and elbow into it also.”

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When the city comes in to do the improvements I do hope they don't cut down any healthy trees for the new playground equipment or concrete the exits of any burrowing owls; I've seen the city do just that.